TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
Nelson Cruz hit a pair of home runs in the Mariners’ 4-3 win as they handed the Twins their 100th loss of the season yeserday. Brian Dozier‘s 42 home runs are the most in one season by any player in major-league history for a team that lost at least 100 games. The only other 100-loss teams that boasted a player with at least 40 home runs were the 1923 Phillies (50-104, Cy Williams, 41 HR), 1930 Phillies (52-102, Chuck Klein, 40) and 1977 Braves (61-101, Jeff Burroughs, 41).
Dozier sets an American League record but has his hitting streak come to an end
Dozier
Brian Dozier hit his 42nd homer of the season, and his 40th as a second baseman, setting an American League record, in the Twins’ afternoon game yesterday, but he went 0-for-4 in the nightcap, ending his 24-game hitting streak. That was the longest hitting streak in a 40-homer season since Albert Pujols had a 30-game spree in 2003, when he clubbed 43 homers.
With a few exceptions the Minnesota Twins appear to have gone belly up and are just walking through the motions as they continue their march to 100 or more losses. There isn’t much good news coming out of Target Field lately so we have to search for some to watch and cheer for and one of those items is Brian Dozier‘s hitting streak which has now hit 22 games. The Twins have a dozen games left to play in 2016, the first six are at home against the Tigers and the Mariners and the next six are on the road at Kansas City and in Chicago against the the White Sox.
If Dozier plays in every game and his hitting streak continues he could tie the Twins hitting streak record of 31 in Kansas City and then go for the record in Chicago. That would be pretty awesome since we plan to be in Chicago that final baseball week-end of the season catching a few Twins games at US Cellular Field which is a field I have never been at, but I have watched a game at White Sox Park back in 1965.
Keep it up Brian Dozier, we need something exciting to watch and the 2016 season winds down for us Twins fans.
UPDATE: September 21, 2016 – Dozier’s hit streak now stands at 23.
UPDATE: September 23, 2016 – Dozier’s hit streak comes to an end at 24 games in game 2 of a DH against the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander on 9/22/2016. Nice run by Mr. Dozier.
Brian Dozier had a two-run single in the Twins’ four-run second inning yesterday extending his hitting streak to 19 games. Dozier has 30 hits, 11 home runs and 22 runs batted in during this streak. The only other players in Twins franchise history with at least 30 hits, 10 home runs and 20 runs batted in over a 19-game span were Harmon Killebrew in 1961 (32 hits, 10 HR, 26 RBI) and Kirby Puckett in 1986.
When you are compared to two Hall of Famers you are in pretty good company. Dozier deserves more credit this year then he has received.
Brian Dozier hit his 40th home run of the season in the Twins 4-2 loss to the Tigers last night at Comerica Park. Dozier could become the eighth player to hit 40 homers in a season for a team that won less than 40 percent of its games. The last player to do that was Jeff Burroughs, who hit 41 long balls in 1977 for the Braves, who finished 61-101 (.377).
By the way, the following has nothing to do with Brian Dozier but it is still a fun read over at D.C. Baseball History. Maybe it could have happened here, after all, Minnesota ladies do love Brian Dozier.
Joe Mauer‘s single in the 12th inning scored Brian Dozier with the winning run for the Twins against the Indians. It was the eighth walkoff win of the season the for the Twins, the most in one season for the team since 2007 (10). Four of the Twins’ eight walkoff wins this season have come against the Tribe, matching the franchise record for most walkoff wins against one team in one season, done several times, the last coning against the Athletics in 1976.
Dozier’s home-run streak ends, settles for tying MLB record
Dozier
Brian Dozier contributed a single, a stolen base and a run scored to the Twins’ victory over the Royals on Wednesday night, but his streak of five straight games with a home run ended. Dozier tied the major-league record for consecutive games with a home run, all as a second baseman. The other players who did that were Rogers Hornsby (1928), Ryne Sandberg (1989), Robby Thompson (1993), Jose Castillo (2006), and Chase Utley (twice in 2008).
Brian Dozier slammed three homers, his 36th, 37th and 38th of the season in a Labor Day afternoon game at Target Field, though the Royals came away the 11-5 victors in Minneapolis. Dozier has now hit 21 homers in his last 35 games, and he became the first major-leaguer to connect for that many homers over a 35-game span since Shawn Green connected for 22 round-trippers over a 35-game span (including four in one game) for the Dodgers in 2002. Dozier has hit 24 homers in 50 games since the All-Star break, with 22 of them coming while in the game as a second baseman (the other two came in a game in which he was the designated hitter). Dozier broke the American League record for homers by a second baseman after the break; the old mark had belonged to Hall-of-Famer Joe Gordon since 1940, when he hit 21 post-break homers with the Yankees.
Dozier’s season total of 38 home runs has been reached by only one other player since the Twins moved from Washington to Minnesota in 1961. The Hall-of-Famer Harmon Killebrew reached that level in eight different seasons in Minnesota (he had also done it once while the team still played in the nation’s capital), knocking out a team-record of 49 homers in 1964 and 1969.
Brian Dozier‘s home run last night in Cleveland was his 24th extra-base hit since August 1. That is the highest total in a calendar month in Twins franchise history. He broke the mark set by Joe Cronin, who had 23 extra-base hits for the Washington Senators in July 1932 and again in June 1933. (The team relocated from Washington to Minnesota in 1961.)
The only other active player to produce at least 24 extra-base hits in a calendar month is Albert Pujols with 24 in June 2009.
Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. each rank in the top 10 all-time in extra-base hits but none of them ever had as many as 24 extra-base hits in a calendar month in their major-league careers.
Dozier ties franchise record for extra-base hits in a month
Dozier
Brian Dozier‘s first-inning home run on last night was his 23rd extra-base hit this month, tying a Twins franchise record for extra-base hits in a calendar month. Joe Cronin had 23 extra-base hits in a calendar month twice, when the team was known as the Senators, in July 1932 and June 1933. Cronin hit .368 (46-for-125) in July 1932, but then topped that off by sporting a remarkable .458 batting average (54-for-118) in June 1933.
Dozier has 12 home runs this month, the most for any player in a calendar month this season. Only two other players in franchise history had 12 or more homers in a calendar month: Harmon Killebrew eight times (his high for a month was 15 in May 1959) and Jimmie Hall in August 1963 (13 homers).
